


Undercity Overdrive

by floralNINJAchan



Category: Motorcity
Genre: Canon Continuation, Canon Universe, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-06-08 03:52:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15234720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralNINJAchan/pseuds/floralNINJAchan
Summary: A month after the attack on Motorcity by Kane's Genesis Pod, all parties are rebuilding and regrouping from the battle and working towards the fights to come. With the loss of Mutt and the question of Julie's relation to the Burners' greatest enemy stands, what else can Mike Chilton do but to keep moving forward, and to kick things into overdrive.---This is my personal attempt at a "season two" of one of my favorite shows (while still keeping high hopes Titmouse gets the property rights and licensing from Disney/Disney XD). As a fanfic, it's more of a novelization than a screen play/script. However, I hope to make it entertaining and enjoyable, and do my best to tell a fun story.





	1. Good to Be Back

**Author's Note:**

> Going off of a "full marathon of the series" high, I decided to get back into writing fanfiction and to continue on the story and plot possibilities that were left to be answers after the finale of Motorcity.

Julie panted as she ran towards the door. She keyed in her code but all she was greeted with was a flashing red [DENIED]. She tried again and again, however the results were the same. From the corner of her eye, she saw her pursuer closing the gap between them. Julie's heart began to race. Her adrenaline was kicking into overdrive as she desperately typed in every override code she could remember. 

Suddenly, an all-to-familiar blue light flashed next to her face. A spark staff was now in between her and the keypad, destroying her only means of escaping the locked room. Julie jumped back as Mike Chilton removed his weapon from the wall and lunged towards the girl. She dodged best she could, rolling onto the floor and away from the spark staff's reach. Panic overcame her as she realized how close she was being cornered. She scanned the room for something, anything that could help her defend herself. Much to her dismay, there was nothing in the room but a desk and chair. She could try to fend him off with the cushioned seat, but he would just demolish it in one fatal sweep. Lost in thought, Julie didn't realize how close Mike had gotten. She was barely able to avoid his attacks. 

Making her way towards the desk area, Julie remembered the emergency defense shield that had been built into furnishing as a new safety precaution. She dove under the desk and reached for the button. However, before she could press it, the desk moved away from her and flew across the room. She looked up to find Mike Chilton standing above. He had kicked the desk out of reach, and now had her pinned. His weapon lifted above him, ready to strike a fatal blow!

"Pause simulation," a voice boomed causing Mike to freeze. His holographic form fuzzed and staticed slightly from being paused in place. Out from seemingly nowhere, Abraham Kane walked towards his daughter. He extended a hand to Julie and helped her up through the hologram of her attacker. "This is why we run these simulations, Julie Bear. Your first instinct was to run to the door, but you never know what those Burners might pull. Hacking a door is child's play, no matter how many times we seem to update the mechanics," Kane grumbled. "You need to keep in mind the emergency shield I had installed first. Once activated it will alert security and will keep you safe until-"

"I know, dad," Julie cut him off. "I just... wish you'd let me train with the Elites or something besides these 'run and hide' simulations. Like you said, we never know what the Burners might pull. Why not also hone my combat skills so I'm not a sitting duck if they ever found a way to deactivate the shield?"

Kane sighed and rubbed his temple. "We've been over this; it would be too suspicious for an intern to be stationed with any branch of our fighting force. As well as, I don't want you in an kind of harm's way until we've run enough successful simulations. I need to know you know every possible solution before having to resort to combat. Considering what happened a month ago-"

"Trust me, dad. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again," Julie replied. She meant it too. Her double life was all too close to being discovered by both parties. She wasn't about to have that close a call take place. However, the most frustrating thing of all was putting up with these simulations. Sure they were beneficial, more so towards her father's peace of mind than her actual well-being, but she couldn't tell him that. Julie could never tell her father, "don't worry dad! Mike Chilton would never try to hurt me on purpose because, big shocker, I'm a Burner! Sorry to keep from you the fact I'm actually one of your sworn enemies! I'll make up for it when Father's Day rolls around" or something like that... She could never tell him that she had been the one who "pushed" herself off of the pod, knowing Mike would catch her, putting her own life in danger. She could never hope to explain that it wasn't just some kind of twisted "teenage rebellion". She couldn't explain that she did all this in spite of the fact that he did most of what he did to do what he thought would protect her and in turn Detroit Deluxe. She said nothing because she knew she could never say it all out loud, and she knew her father would never listen. So, she just had to endure. 

It was a little unsettling though; seeing one of her closest friends try to take her out with such a hostile expression. Sure, her father had the program simulated what it would be like if Mike seriously went after her, but it just seemed so... weird. She could never see him make that kind of face. Not towards her, at least. Julie looked at the paused hologram of her friend and a shiver went down her spine. Getting a better look at the frozen expression on "Mike's" face, she couldn't help but let her mind drift to a frightening questions: "Is this what he would look at me like is her knew the truth?"

The thought echoed eerily in the back of her mind. Before it could take hold in the front of her thoughts, the hologram vanished and the room was completely empty, all except for the father and daughter. Julie snapped out of her daze to see her dad's face, his expression slightly softer than normal. 

"That's enough for today," he said, breaking the silence that had filled the room. "Go back to the pod and get some rest. We'll start back again tomorrow after your regular work." He pat his daughter on the back and gently nudged her towards the door. Nervously, Julie smiled and told her father goodbye. She feigned a yawn as she waved before exiting the simulation room. 

Exiting from the main Kane Co. facility, Julie traveled, but not back to her pod. She quickly called Claire and asked her to say that she would be spending the night at her place. Claire to which reluctantly agreed, and as soon as she reached the edge of Deluxe, Julie activated her holograms. Gone were her Kane Co. issued attire and in its place were her true colors. She made her way into 9 Lives, and slammed on the accelerator. 

Julie needed to be in her home away from "home", Motorcity. 

\-----

It had been a month since the Genesis Pod incident. The past several weeks had been dedicated to the rebuilding and regrouping for the occupants of Motorcity. The gangs pitched in to clean up collateral damage. Even the Duke of Detroit lent aid, although most suspected it was in hopes to smooth over his betrayal that helped to cause the event in question. 

With the collaborative efforts of the gangs and the citizens, Motorcity was starting to look back to how it was before many of the buildings were decimated. Most of the people had gone back to their normal day-to-day activities. This however didn't included the Burners.

Mike and the crew had been putting in overtime in helping aid the reconstruction. Dutch was making daily trips to the Cablers' Settlement to help out his girlfriend Tennie and her father Bracket with repairs. As well as the trio were going out to other sites and areas to help out however they could. Chuck was monitoring and fine tuning the security measures for the gateways on all four sides of the city, making sure they were at full power. Texas was... well, just doing his Texas thing. Texas-ifying and such.

As for Mike, he was getting back into the swing of things. It had been like pulling teeth for the Burners to get their leader to take some much needed downtime to recover. Not only had he taken on and won against Kane, but that victory had entailed him being a part of a major explosion. Not to mention having the loss of Mutt, and the time he had spent in captivity being two causes of slight stress. Even if he didn't show it outwardly, getting tenderized by Red's lackluster right hook might have hit him a little harder than he'd realized. Pun not intended. And all the drama back in Deluxe that happened with Kane and Julie... that also gave Mike some stress. After what Kane had said to him about how he'd been like a son to him, it made Mike wonder just how good an intern Jules really was. He wasn't suspecting her of being a triple agent or anything. She had made it more than clear she was a Burner at heart, even if she didn't wear the logo on the outside. What worried Mike was that she seemed... so confident at certain times when it came to Kane. She would be so willing to give herself up almost without hesitation if it meant Mike wouldn't have to face him. Or... if he didn't have to face him with her being there as well. It all seemed too complicated for him to tackle alone once he started going down that train of thought. So, he just decided to let Jules tell him the details whenever and if ever she was ready and willing. Unless, that is, the situation demanded it. But Mike didn't want to think about that. That was the thing about downtime that he hated; having the lack of noise and action to drown out him being able to actually think about those types of things. 

The Burners were huddled around the bar as Jacob pulled out a new organic "treat" for the guys to try. It was the first time in over a week they were all in the same room for more than a minute at a time, so they didn't mind it to be for a taste testing. Any time spent together shooting the breeze was a gift in itself after only passing greetings and communication though calls. A little face-to-face was more than welcomed. What made it even better was the purr of 9 Lives pulling into the garage. For the time they had been separated over the past month, Julie held the record for longest at a whole two weeks straight. The guys had gotten worried to the point of calling up Claire in order to make sure Julie was ok. 

"Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long!" Julie exclaimed as she hopped out of her car. "Security has been waaaay tight since the whole jailbreak thing. I haven't been able to sneak away till now."

"It's about time you showed!" Texas called out as she made her way to the bar. "Was getting worried you were turning into a Miss Ultra Deluxe, since you went MIA. Or you got turned into a cyborg ninja and I'd have to defeat you with my moves." Texas proceeded to do several kung-fu poses.

Julie let out a chuckle, "No way, Tex. I'm no more an 'ultra' Deluxe than I am a cyborg ninja."

"I would have to debate the not-a-ninja part," Mike chimed in. Stepping forward, he put his hand on Julie's shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Jules." He gave her a reassuring smile. 

"It's good to be back," she replied. His words and that smile were all she needed. Bit by bit the illusion of binary code and light projection that she had been facing in her training these past few weeks disappeared. This was real. This was Mike. These were the real Burners. And they were her second family. No holograms, no matter how realistic, could convincer her otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title of this fanfic was one of the possible retitlings of the series if the creators/studio couldn't get the rights back from Disney. Titles are usually my crux when it comes to posting up fanfics and I am fully aware this is "lazily" unoriginal lol. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I love hearing feedback so please feel free to comment. I'm always open to suggestions and ideas, although I do have a few very badly punny named OCs that I want to introduce later on after a few canon character stories. You have been warned lol. Again thank you for reading, and I'd love to hear what you think!


	2. Laugh Till It’s Funny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kane released a mutated form of nitrous oxide, laughing gas, across the city in order to “smoke out” the inhabitants of Motorcity, releasing the gas into the air in large explosions. The Burners must fight the effects and defeat Kane during a situation that’s anything but funny.

Mutt Dogs diner was filled with Texas’s laughter as the film the Burners were watching implemented some less than tasteful slapstick comedy. After a long day of the continuous reconstruction of Motorcity, a little movie night didn't seem like too much of an unwelcome event. That is, until the rest of the group realized it was Texas’s turn to select the feature presentation. The Burners only wished that there friend had picked one of the cheesy kung-fu action flicks he was so accustomed to watching. Instead, they were all sat down and taken hostage by a so-bad-it's-just-plain-bad comedy. No one could act out of a paper bag, the cinematography was worse than a B-movie, and the most devastating of all, it wasn't the least bit funny. However, Texas’s hooting and howling would have had one guess otherwise.

“Can we please not watch this,” Dutch groaned as one of the actors on the screen slipped on a banana peel. “I'd rather be locked up and tortured by Kane than sit though the rest of this…” He slumped into the booth they were all seated in.

“No way, man. This movie is epic! And I don't know why you'd think this is bad, let alone like being captured by Kane. Been there, done that, kinda boring. I like that Hammer guy though. He gets my awesome,” Texas rambled with a mouth full of popcorn. 

“I'm gonna have to slightly side with Tex on this one,” Mike added. “This movie may be awful, but I'd take it over a slumber party in a Kane Co. holding cell.”

“Yeah. Mike and I are super bad, super tough dudes. I could get if you wouldn't be bad or tough enough to take it,” Texas jabbed as he nudged Dutch with his elbow. 

Rubbing his now sore arm, Dutch rolled his eyes. “All I’m saying is a comedy, ya know, probably should be funny. This… this is basically anti-comedy.”

The other Burners, Julie and Chuck, had graciously been absent from the screening due to a small distress call about some kind of mysterious piece of Kane tech just abandoned near a city block. The Burners had been inspecting it early that day, and had left Chuck behind to keep doing tests and examinations. Julie, having less slip away time than she used to, had agreed to pick up their nerdy friend and bring him back to the garage when he was finished, and when she got off her internship. Chuck would have driven himself but… oh darn, Blonde Thunder was in need of a “tune up” and the blonde programmer had hitched a ride with Mike on his chopper. Que sera sera and all that.

The growing sound of the revv of 9 Lives’ engine could be heard, only to have it be replaced with the screeching of it’s breaks. The guys turned away from the film to see Julie frantically exiting her car, and sliding across the hood to fling open the passenger side door. The next sound to greet the ears or the Burners was one that was familiar but drastically different; Chuck’s screaming, not of fear but a pained laughter. 

“Guys!” Julie called as she did her best to lift the hysterical boy out of her car. “I need help!”

Before she even finished her sentence, Mike had hopped out of the booth and down to the ground. He dashed over to her and relieved her by propping Chuck up against his shoulder. “What happened?” he worthily asked as he guided his friend up the stairs. 

“I don't know! One second I'm driving up to meet Chuck, and he looked perfectly fine! I pull up, hear a scream, and by the time I get there he’s like this! I rushed him back here as fast as I could!”

Mike helped the still laughing Chuck sit down in the booth, as to make sure he didn't fall over, and got down to his friend’s eye level. Lifting back his bangs, he could tell his friend was far from ok. His eyes were almost bloodshot from crying, his expression was far from happy, and his breathing in between guffaw was shallow. The group tried their best not to slip into panic; in Julie’s case, she'd already crossed that line and was doing her best just not to show it. 

“G-g-g-,” Chuck sounded out as he tried to steady his breathing. He leaned forward, one arm holding his sides. The other he used to pull up a keyboard, and change the screen from the now forgotten about film to a text applicator. He started typing best he could:

Gas attack. N2O. Not right. Lasting too long.

“N2O? You mean like, NOS, the stuff that can make your car go major fast?” Texas spoke up.

“Yeah, well, it can be used for that,” Dutch confirmed. “But N2O, meaning nitrous oxide, is more commonly known as… laughing gas.” They all looked at Chuck sympathetically. 

“What would Kane be dong with laughing gas?” Mike inquired as he stood there helplessly, unable to do much of anything to aid his friend. And just like that, speak of the devil-

The text turned back into a moving image, however it wasn't a pleasant sight. Kane graced the screen with his “best of intentions” TV face, along with a disingenuous smile. “Hello, Motorcity. I'm sure that you've noticed by now my little… gifts I've been leaving. Moving gifts, if you will. Less of you have probably noticed that these gifts aren't so much for you to take with you, but to help you get up and leave. Nothing harmful, really. Just something to brighten up your day. Laughter is the best medicine after all,” his face twisted slightly in delight, “aside from the medical treatments provided exclusively here in Deluxe! Which, some of you who have gotten a little too close to these ‘party poppers’ will need in the next 48 hours. These gas bombs, if you haven't figured out by now, contain a mutated version of nitrous oxide. The effects of the gas normally should wear off in around five minutes after the last exposure. This however won't. 

“An antidote that will neutralize this mutated chemical compound can only be found here in Deluxe Detroit! So choose wisely Motorcity; either come up top with a smile, or stay down there splitting your sides laughing… maybe even literally.” Then the feed cut out, leaving only Kane’s warped expression of delight and superiority left in the Burners’ heads. This was bad. There was no clue as to how many of these bombs had been set off or how many people were in Chuck’s position… or worse. 

The laughing boy fumbled his fingers on the keyboard again:

Get Jacob. Air filtration. Noticedsjencijsbwhrivosnenjcjanrcjisbyhigsjbruvisjbedhviksnrjvisnrjcisjrfjciqknrvjsienguxiwjf

Chuck spasmed, unable to control his arms. Whatever control he had managed to keep over his breathing had been relinquished. His body began to try and curl up in on itself. Using what little strength he had, Chuck pulled a drive out of his pocket and slid it on to the table. 

By this time Jacob had come out of the kitchen. He joined the others at the table and looked at the text and then to the drive. He picked it up, plugged it in, and began looking over the data that it held. Many files and graphs graced the screen, and the elder man’s expression grimminced. “From what I can tell,” he began, “what Chuck is experiencing is as bad as it gets… The uncontrolled laughter, most likely having major headaches, nausea, excessive sweating and shivering, and if we don't get him the antidote or some kind of cure soon, hypoxia. Meaning he’ll have an absence of enough oxygen in his blood to sustain bodily functions…

“I can see about trying to create my own antidote based on this data… but our best option here is to see you kids can get your hands on the one Kane was talking about. Even just one sample and I can do my best to recreate it.” Jacob began perusing over files with complex formulas and other scientific mumbo jumbo. 

The Burners decided to split up; Julie volunteered to head back up to Deluxe to see if she could get her hands on some antidote for Jacob and in turn Chuck, Texas and Dutch were to drive around the city to locate other sites that had been exposed to gas attacks, and Mike was to go back to the site they had visited earlier in the day. Hopefully, since it was one closest to one of the gates, it would have some kind of clues. After Dutch passed out some air filtration masks, the three boys rushed to their vehicles and tore off out of the garage and onto the roads.

\-----

Mike pulled up to the site and noticed that nothing much had changed from the time he and the rest of his crew had been there earlier in the day. The mysterious hunk of junk that he knew now to be a gas bomb was still stationary, however a light on one of its sides was from red to green. It was pretty easy to figure out what that meant. 

Getting out, hiding his bike behind some rubble, and scouting around, there wasn't much Mike could see that would be in any way helpful. That is, until he stepped on something that made a squish noise he knew didn't belong in the middle a dry, dusty area like this. He looked down to see the gooey remains of a Kane Co. Throat Cube, the thing that Kane liked to call “food” up in Deluxe. More importantly, it hadn't been there when they had first arrived. So that had to mean… Kane’s goons must be nearby.

Slinking away from the site, Mike scanned the area more to see if any more cubes had been dropped. Sure enough, a trail of cubes laid on the ground leading towards what Mike could only assume to be a camp. Following the trail was his best lead, even if for all Mike knew it where it may be leading could be a trap.

\-----

Just as quickly as Julie had drove to the garage, she drove back to Deluxe. It was crazy! Sure, her father had tried something similar with the climator in freezing the city or with the nanite “zombie virus”. But something like this? It seemed a bit much. Kane Co. had resources for helping with colds and the “zombie” thing was just tech. But N2O was… no laughing matter… in the metaphorical sense at least, not the literal. Or it was a misplaced and unintentional pun. But that was neither here nor there. 

The severe medical repercussions of over exposure to nitrogen was way too dangerous to mess with. What Jacob had mentioned about hypoxia, not to mention the unknown of a mutated chemical compound, that was a little too extreme even for Kane. Or at least that's what Julie wanted to believe. There had to be a catch, a failsafe. The antidote couldn't possibly be the only option. Julie intended on finding that out, whatever it was, if it existed. 

She made her way into the Kane Co. offices and up the elevator towards the research and development wing. Luckily, she had the minimum access to the labs. With a slide of the door, she was greeted to a scene of frantic scientists and just as frantic lab assistants. Large unmarked air canisters were being quickly loaded into crates and smaller handheld ones were being placed into duffles. 

Julie grabbed hold of the nearest lab assistant she could find. “Hey,” she said trying to get his attention. “I'm here to pick up a sample of the antidote,” she paused for a split second to come up with an excuse. Then a good one hit her, “Tooley accidentally breathed it in and he just won't stop laughing. It’s getting on Mr. Kane’s nerves.”

The lab assistant raised an eyebrow. “Didn't he go down to Motorcity with the monitorial team?”

“Uh, um, yes but he keeps calling Kane on accident so, without cutting off contact complete with the others, he wanted to make sure he got treated quickly.” Her lie was falling apart but it hadn't been all for not. 

“Oh, well then just tell them to use there emergency supply,” he said dryly. “That's what it's there for… I mean really…” he continued to mumble to himself and he left the conversation. 

Julie, seeing as no one really wanted to talk to her now, or were too busy to notice her, took this opportunity to swipe a handheld canister. She exited the lab and began speed walking down the hall. Once she was safely out of the building and in her car, Julie knew exactly what to do.

Tell the others of the antidote supply. Get the antidote she had to Chuck. And hope that this wouldn't get too hectic, because if her father had this many personal just on staff and on task for the antidote… just how uncontrollable did they expect this gas to be…

\-----

Mike hid behind a crate as he saw a group of Kane Co. field operatives pass by. He's blind following of jiggly “food” led him to a decent sized camp of scientists and soldiers. Big crates were placed all around, and everyone were in hazmat suits unloading them. Large containers, some with the regular K symbol and others with an additional warning label, were being passed around. The ones branded with the warning labels were being attached to KaneBots Mike had never seen before. The centers of the robots were decked out with large fans, most likely for distributing the mutatedN2O at a larger rate and scale. 

After a group of suited persons passed by his hiding place, Mike swiftly bobbed and weaved towards one of the few tents that had been set up around the camp. Ducking inside, he was partually lucky enough to be entering an almost empty area. And by almost…

“Hey! It’s…,” the voice let out a giggle, “Mike Chilton… you’re not supposed to (laugh) be here.” Mike looked over to see Tooley, the less than competent lapdog of Kane sitting slumped over one of the tables in the room. He tried to get up, appearing to use what strength he had, and attempted to put up his dukes, only to slump back over softly laughing.

It appeared that, like similar fashion, Tooley managed to include himself with the Motorcitizans whom Kane was attacking. Not as bad as Chuck, but the big dummy definitely had been experiencing some mild exposure. Around Tooley on the ground were the same Throat Cubes Mike had used to find the camp in the first place. It became clear that the Kane Co. flunky had gotten a case of the munchies and took off his helmet; filling his stomach while also filling his lungs with whatever gas had been left in the air after the site’s explosion. It was clear that in this state, he wasn’t going to be much of a threat. 

“I don’t (giggle) feel so good…” In the mix of laughs, Tooley let out a groan. Nausea was probably setting in. Feeling kind of sorry for the lug, Mike walked over and pat him on the back.

“Take a rest there, buddy.” Mike looked around and took a spare tarp off of the ground and draped it over the guy.

“I’m not your… zzzzzzzzz,” Tooley attempted to protest, but inevitably took Mike’s advice. All the lugging around boxes and giggle fits tuckered the guy out. And his nap was all too good in its timing.

“Mike,” Julie called, her communication hologram popping up in front of Tooley’s sleeping face. “I got a sample of the antidote, and I found out there is a-”

“A camp site housing all the gas? Yeah, I found it. Lots of N2O and antidote, as well as some KaneBots being sent out with even more of the gas… so we’ve got a lot more to deal with than just the bombs…” Mike said in a hushed voice. He glanced outside the tent for a split second, checking to make sure the bots hadn’t been deployed yet. “I’m going to contact the guys and send them my location, if you could join, that would be awesome, but maybe after you get to Chuck.”

“Got it,” Julie responded. Her hologram disappeared to be replaced by Dutch’s, Texas’s, as well as a video call with Jacob. Mike explained the situation to them and that Jules was on the way to there HQ. Jacob switched his focus from making his own cure to digging up any data from the drive it held on the bots, if there was any to be found. Dutch and Tex were heading to Mike’s location as fast as they could, not knowing how much time they would have between then and when the bots would be deployed.  
Some slight commotion was coming from outside the tent, so Mike signed off and peeked his head out once more. Several of the haz-suits were gathered around several off the bots, loading on the tanks of gas. They were preparing for releasing them at any moment. With lack of time, Mike decided to take one for the team. 

“Hey!” he exclaimed. Everyone turned around, and stopped what they were doing. Mike took out his skull gear shifter from his pocket. 

“It’s Chilton!” one yelled.

“Get him!” said another.

With a smirk, Mike activated his spark staff and lunged forward. Several goons did the same, while a few still attaching the tanks somewhat frantically. One of the goons pulled back their arm for a right hook and went in for a punch. Mike ducked and swept at their legs, causing them to topple to ground. Jumping up, the Burner clothes-lined two more of the haz-suits, and they joined their allies, flat on their backs. One right after the other, Mike took down attacker after attacker. However, more and more haz-suits gathered to replace the others. They dogpiled on Mike, knocking his mask off in the process. 

Slowly, the Burner began feeling the effects of the gas. He started to feel a little too calm. His attacks started getting sluggish and he began taking a few hits, moving with the punches. Mike didn’t like it, but retreat started to seem like a good option to attempt.

And that’s when backup arrived. Whiptail and Stronghorn pulled into view, and their drivers came to aid their friend. They joined the kicking and punching, and made their way to Mike, digging him out of the human bariar

“Don’t worry… about… me,” Mike told them, holding back laughter. “The tanks… don’t let them load the tanks with the hazard labels… no label, that’s the… antidote.”

“On it,” Dutch reassured Mike. He turned to his other friend. “Texas, get the guys next to the KaneBots!” 

“Whaaa-chaaaa!” the ‘secret weapon’ of the team exclaimed. He didn’t need to be told twice. Tex was already knocking out the goons next to the bots. Some of the haz-suits started to notice their lack of numbers. They became skittish, choosing to run back to the nearest transport pod. 

As their enemies mainly fleed, Dutch helped Mike up and made their way towards the bots and Tex. “Start.. switching out the (laugh) tanks,” Mike said as he tried his hardest to resist the gas’s effects for as long as he could. The three started pulling out and replacing the tanks. Dutch, after trading out a few of the tanks, found the main controls. He keyed in a flight pattern for the bots to take, going over the major areas where the bombs had been set off. 

“Got all mine!” Tex shouted as he fastened the last of his tanks. Mike could only give a thumbs up as an indication for his completion, as he was hunched over in laughter. Taking these signs as a “go ahead”, Dutch started up the bots, sending them off on their journey. As the bots lifted off the ground, almost instantly, they began fanning the antidote into the air.

Mike, after a few seconds, could finally breathe again. Tooley, who was still asleep in the tent, had his sleeping sounds turn from soft giggles to a normal snore. And soon, the rest of the Motorcitizans who were affected were able to breathe easily and normally once more.

\-----

Stronghorn, Whiptail, and Mike’s bike, Pup, drove into the Burners’ HQ. They were glad to be greeted by Julie and a not-unchucky Chuck. Mike let out a sigh of relief. 

“So,” Tex started. “You guys wanna finish that movie?”

There was silence from the other Burners before they let out the first genuine laughs they had had all day. 

“What… so that’s a no?” Texas asked puzzled.

“Not right now, buddy,” Mike said as he picked up grabbed a tied off mass of the N2O tanks off the back of his chopper. “Now let’s get these into the garage. Now that they’re in the ‘right’ hands… we get get some serious horsepower, and I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on a test drive.”

“And you,” Dutch said as he calmed down from laughing. “Mutt will be ready sooner than later, and I think you’re gonna really like some of the upgrades I’ve been making.”

“Looking forward to it.” Mike lifted the tank onto his shoulder as the other two grabbed tanks out of their cars, and unloaded the spoils into the garage. The foiling of Kane’s plans hadn’t gone as smoothly as the Burners had hoped, when does it ever, but at least something good had come from it.

\-----

“The… mission was a failure,” one of the haz-suits regrettingly reported to his boss. Oddly enough, Kane didn’t seem too upset for a change. The silence from Kane was almost more disturbing than his rage. 

“Leave,” Kane barked. The goon complied almost too quickly, escaping the room, leaving Kane alone in the office. 

Pulling up the camera feeds of the GasBots that had been releasing the “antidote” over the sewers known as Motorcity, Kane watched the effects of the gas on a mass scale. His goon hadn’t been wrong, or completely right for that matter. True, he was using his mutated form of N2O try and gas out the Motorcitizans. However it was also a “small” test for something… bigger. Kane pulled up a communication channel with the head of the department for the air filtration for Deluxe. 

“Yes, Mr. Kane?” the head answered the call.

“Release the gas at 1.7%,” he replied.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Kane.” The call ended. 

Kane might not have gained now residents, at least not this time. But he had been able to test a way to keep more and more Deluxians up above the sewers; keeping the people even more happy without them even realizing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. Honestly, Motorcity’s writing team did such a great job on all the Kane Co. related episodes, that it was hard to figure out what to do that wasn’t too similar to what has already been done. Which was so hard lol. Part of this idea came from thinking of the episodes of “Going Dutch” and “Mayhem Night”, as well as the other part came from the Joker Laughing Gas (inspired by Mark Hamill also voicing another epic villain, The Joker from Batman The Animated Series). 
> 
> I guess any other notes would have to be:  
> Mike was “nice” to Tooley mainly due to (1) he wasn’t on the attack, and (2) all things considered Tooley isn’t all that bad, just not too bright.
> 
> And yes, I named Mike’s chopper Pup. Gotta keep that dog theme lol. It is a smaller ride and it is kinda a baby. 
> 
> Thank you again for reading. Comment and let me know what you think so far. And let me know what you want to see next. Should I go right into introducing some of my OCs I have planned, or should I bring back another of the OG villains?
> 
> See y’all in the next chapter!


	3. Keep It Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Texas shows off a mysterious coupon from a “new” car detailer, the Burners go to check it out. They are impressed with the amazing work done on their cars… not so much the odd “cleanliness” of their friends.

Dutch, with R.O.T.H. on close standby, strapped on an air filtration mask and long plastic gloves. Sweat crept down from his brow as he reached his extra large metal work pliers into the darkest depths of…

“I can’t do it!” Dutch exclaimed. He backed away from Stronghorn in defiance. Rebuilding and doing maintenance on the team’s cars were one thing, but cleaning them? That was NOT his job. At least, it wasn’t going to be anymore. “Texas! How can you drive in this mess? I think the… moldy pizza? I think it moved!” Dutch slammed the car door shut and backed away from the vehicle. 

“You’re overreacting!” Texas laughed as he walked over to his semi-nauseous friend. “I’m pretty sure that pizza is only… a week old.” This did not comfort Dutch one bit. “But I mean it’s no problemo if you don’t wanna clean her up anymore. Got this,” Tex pulled out a brightly colored piece of paper. On the page was an ad with a coupon included reading:

Oasis Auto Spa  
Pamper and Cleanse at Reasonable Prices  
First Visit is Free!

Listed below the snazzy taglines in bold were more specifics about where the Auto Spa was and when it was open. It was almost on the complete other side of the city, which would be more than out of the way just for a car cleaning. But considering it was free, and this was a… drastic situation, it wouldn’t hurt to give the place a look over. 

“You think any of the others want to get in on this?” Tex asked as he opened up his car’s door once more, taking out the moldy pizza with bare hands. Giving it a small look over and a sniff, he took a huge bite. Dutch held back his nauseous feeling from the grotesque act. 

“I mean, since Jules takes good care of hers, Mike technically only has… half a car at the moment, and Chuck doesn’t ever drive his, I’m not sure they would be up for a detailing. On a side note, you do know detailings do take a long time to do… and for you, I’m betting it will take a day at the least. Want me to drive with you?” he asked as he saw his friend get into the driver’s seat. 

“Nah, waste of gas. Plus, I don’t know if I wanna trust my car with some stranger while they go poking around… They might de-Texas-ify Stronghorn’s mojo.” 

Respecting his decision, Dutch said a farewell to Tex as he drove off.

\-----

Julie, Chuck, and Mike were about to finish the last of their deliveries for the day. Custom parts had been in somewhat of a popular demand since the rebuilding. After the craziness of a giant destructive and the threat of their cars being forcefully taken, it made the most sense to make sure those cars were more powerful and harder to catch in a chase. 

Pup and 9 Lives met up at their last delivery of the day, much to their disdain, at the manor of the Duke of Detroit. Even with his “change of heart” and help given during the attack a month ago, they still were skeptical and reluctant in providing their services to one of the men who made Kane’s plan a reality. However, Mike and the Burners knew full well that, even though they had every right to pick and choose who they decided to do business with, how hypocritical it would be. They were the ones who helped give others freedom through the open road, something that Kane specifically wanted to take away. And if the Burners could help accelerate that form of freedom, even for the Duke, then it would still be in line with their core beliefs. Even if they didn’t like doing it... 

Having made their way up the winding hill and now standing at the front doors, the gang was met by No. 2 and several of the Duke’s drivers. Mike, case in hand, walked over to the second in command. “I’m guessing it was too much to hope the Duke would ‘grace’ us with his presents? Considering how much he cares for his ‘babies’, I thought he would want to be the first one to get his hands on this,” Mike said as he handed over the case.

“The Duke is… currently having a moment. There was a loss in the family,” No. 2 calmly explained. She blew and popped a bubble from her gum as she checked the product they had delivered. “It would be best if you weren’t seen. He knows it wasn’t your fault but-” Loud crashing noises and muffled, angry yelling heard from inside the manor. “Considering your relations, he’d probably use you as a much needed distraction.” She handed over the payment and turned away, heading back into the manor.

“Duelly noted,” Mike nervously chuckled as he took his part of the trade. As No. 2 opened the door to enter, a more clean sound of rage could be heard. It was still hard to make out, but the most clearly heard were “paint job”, “crazy devil woman”, and “this isn’t over”. 

“I’d hate to be whomever the Duke’s having a cow over,” Julie quipped as Mike made his way back to his friends. 

“Cow? He’s having the whole barn!” Chuck added.

“It’s best we don’t stick around to find out,” Mike said as he hopped on Pup. The other two got on and in their respective rides. As they were pulling out and made their way down the winding road, the crashing sound of glass being broken and the Duke’s screams echoed into the distance.

\-----

Pup and 9 Lives pulled into the garage to find Dutch alone working on rebuilding Mutt. It was almost deafeningly quiet, since it was rare for Texas to not be making some kind of noise. The three made their way over to Dutch who was under the car. He pulled out from underneath, face smudged with oil. “Hey guys,” he greeted. “How did it go?” As a replied, Mike held up his new case filled with payment from the Duke’s exchange. “Wow, you actually got it,” Dutch chuckled. “He didn’t try to just take it?”

“Nah, he was a little too… busy dealing with something else,” Mike tried to sound nice about it. 

“Yeah, busy going crazy,” Chuck added on, not as kindly. “He was yelling and raving about someone ruining one of his cars, or something. And speaking of yelling… where’s Texas?”

The others looked around, as did Dutch as he got to his feet. “He went to some place to get his car detailed. Not sure when he’ll be back-”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Stronghorn, looking fresh from the factory (if those were even a thing anymore), roared into its parking spot. It was almost unreal how good, at least from the outside, Texas’s car looked. And when the driver himself got out…

The Burners looked on in utter shock. The person they saw they could barely recognize; neatly combed hair with his signature hat missing, his racer style uniform had been replaced with an eerily similar pure white uniform… and his eyes seemed distant and his pupils were dilated. 

“Texas… w-what happened to you?” Julie was the first to speak. Her voice wavered as she slowly walked towards her teammate. Her eyes darted to different areas of his body. His new threads looked all too similar to the normal regulated Kane Co. uniform, however it had no trace of the signature blue to the white base. Texas didn’t seem to notice her intensive observing. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice anything as all. His stare seemed to be going off into the distance. 

“I did what Dutch recommended, Julie,” Texas replied almost robotically, “I got my car cleaned.”

“Doesn’t look like you just got your car cleaned,” Mike said as he joined Julie in getting a better look at his friend. “Where exactly did you go?”

“Oasis Auto Spa, the place to cleanse… your car and soul,” Tex recited as he walked past the other Burners and towards the countertop of Mutt Dogs. He disappeared into the kitchen, only to reappear with not his usual Muscle Mulch, but with a bottle of water. Ignoring the seats at the bar and the booth, Texas made his way back to Stronghorn and sat inside. Almost semi-lifeless, he gingerly sipped his water behind the wheel. He almost looked like a crash-test dummy.

“Ok, so this is weird. Like. Extremely weird!” Julie exclaimed. “He didn’t call me by the wrong name… and he looks like… a deluxe Deluxian…”

“We need to check out this ‘Oasis’ place,” Mike turned to Dutch, “You know where it is?”

“Nah, man. Tex had a-” before Dutch could replay, almost like a phantom, Tex appeared behind them. 

“Here,” he said giving his friends a good startle. He handed them a flier. “The first visit is free.” Carefully, Mike took the page away from him. Almost automatically, Tex went back into his car and just sat there. 

“Dutch, Chuck, you stay here with Tex… Julie and I will check out this place.” And with that, Mike and Julie revved up their rides, and headed to the Oasis Auto Spa.

\-----

Pup and 9 Lives pulled up to the building that had presumably caused the change in their friend. The Oasis Auto Spa looked creepily like an older version of a Kane Co. Deluxe Pod that had been attached to an old auto garage. Everything past a certain point was a blinding white; the small fence around the property, the tiles in replacement for dirt and grass within the fence, and the walls and bricks on the outside of the shop. Even the neon sign above the building were in pure white lights. 

Mike and Julie walked onto the property and up to the front door. Without even placing a hand on the doors handle, it automatically slide open to reveal a tricenarian woman in the entryway. The first thing that came to the two’s minds were “clean”. The person standing before them, much like the ‘new’ Texas, had on a pure white coveralls that paralleled the uniforms in Deluxe. The woman smiled at them kindly.

“Welcome to Oasis,” she greeted in a thick Jersey accent. “I’m Dee.” Her hand gracefully waved over the one spot on her suit with any other color to it; her first name stitched in black cursive writing on the left side of her chest. “How can I help you two today?” Dee peared over their shoulders. “Oh my, I see you have a chopper and a cruiser. As my flier says, the first visit is free. However I will let you know I do charge half price for bikes. Less… passion needed in the cleansing.

“Please come in,” she stepped aside and waved them inward.

Mike and Julie did so skeptically. Looking around the inside of the grounded pod, they quickly picked up on the not-so-subtle differences between the outside and the inside. Oil paintings and polaroid photographs of varying vehicles covered the walls; classic hot rods, sporty town cars, even old food trucks and vans with cheesy custom sliding doors. It gave color to the deafening white surrounding them. Dee sat at a small desk, and gestured for the two to sit in the chairs in front of it. Reaching under the desk, she pulled out a light blue form and a deep red form. 

“Now,” she began as the two took their seats, “I tend to do a bit of interviewing with new customers, just the normal questions; how did you hear about us? And the like. Then we can go over the different packages and a look at some of the specials we have-”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on there, Dee,” Mike interrupted. “We aren’t really here for a… ‘cleansing’ as you put it. We’re here about one of your customers, our friend, who came in here today.”

“Ah yes. The mix-match Italian six-wheeler. Now that was a challenge! I hadn’t seen a car with that much black mold since I redid the interior of an abandoned taco truck!” Dee reminisced. She picked up a file from one of her desk drawers, and opened it up. “A Mister… Texas, was it? What about him? Does he have an issue with my work on his car?”

“No, ma’am,” Julie responded. “But we have a problem with our friend… He’s different. And it’s not just a ‘feel good’ attitude from a new car smell.”

“He mentioned something about… having his soul cleansed,” Mike added as he leaned forward in his seat. Dee’s calmness, and customer service attitude, was seemingly hard to read. He watched her closely to see if she let anything slip in her body language. However, her face didn’t falter. 

“Your friend must have been referring to our waiting room. Since most have to wait a long amount of time for their cars to be cleansed, we here at Oasis Auto Spa have a relaxation waiting area. Soothing sounds, freshly brewed coffee, and even a cot are provided for our customer’s comfort during this time,” Dee said almost scripted, like she had had to explain this to a concerned individual before. 

“I really don’t think that’s what he meant,” Mike’s eyes narrowed. 

“Well, Mr. Chilton-”

“I don’t remember telling you my name,” Mike snapped back. 

“Oh, you’re too modest, Michael. ‘The savior of Motorcity’ and all that jazz, you’re a little… infamous,” the corner of Dee’s mouth twitched in its smile as she responded. “I’ve heard a lot about the great Mike Chilton. And I’m seeing that… attitude,” she spat the word out like it was venom, “is as colorful as described.”

Mike stood up from his seat, Julie following his lead, and started towards the door. “It’s just Mike,” he corrected. “I don’t know all that you’ve heard, but one thing you should know for a fact is that I don’t take too kindly to people who hurt my friends.”

“Well then we shouldn’t have a problem then, Mr. Chilton I have never hurt your friend,” she said as the two exited the pod. The door slid shut behind them. “No… not hurt,” Dee’s smile contorted. “Fixed.”

\-----

Once the two were a good distance away from the Auto Spa, Mike and Julie called up the gang back at the HQ. The signal wasn’t too strong, but they needed to check in on Tex. And to see if Chuck would be able to dig up anything on this “Dee” and her sketchy business. From the time they had left, Texas hadn’t done much of anything; sat in his car, drank water, stared blankly out the windshield into the distance… and every so often he would get out of his car to… wax Stronghorn. 

“He’s like a goldfish,” Dutch noted as he waved his hand in front of his friend’s face. Tex just ignored the attempted distraction and continued to mindlessly wax the hood of his car. 

“And this Dee… oh, man. Mikey, you’re probably not gonna like this,” Chuck said as he pulled up a file.

“Lay it on me, Chuckles.”

“...the only thing I can find is a reference to an archive of a paper trail connecting her with,” Chuck let out a long sigh, “The Duke of Detroit.”

“Great… now we have to go back up there,” Julie moaned as she shook her head.

“You think he’s still throwing his tantrum?” Mike half jokingly asked.

\-----

Another chair flew through one of the broken windows of the Dukes Manor.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Julie answered as the two dodged the oncoming furniture. It had been several hours since their earlier visit and the Duke had not seemed to calm down one bit. Not having an array of the Duke’s goons around, the two Burners let themselves in. They were greeted with what appeared to be the aftermath of a man-made tornado. The once elegant foyer they always dreaded walking across looked more like the junkyard outside. And what had been muffled yelling before had turned into very recognizable ranting. 

The Duke howled as he threw a table at the wall. His drivers were nowhere to be seen, probably hiding away until their boss calmed down. It didn’t take long for the enraged man to take notice of his guests. Almost like a switch had been flicked, the Duke was greeting them like his “normal” “charismatic” self. 

“Mike Chilton and one of his Burners!” the Duke called out. “I hate to admit it, but you being here? Easily the best part of my day so far. I recommend you keep it that way.”

“We don’t want any trouble, just to ask what you know about someone named Dee-” Mike didn’t get to finish his question.

“Dee Taylor, the deranged neat freak. Why do you ask?” he lowered his shades down the bridge of his nose. 

“She did… something to one of our friends,” Julie explained. “It’s like he was brainwashed.”

“Ah yes… that. That would be the ‘cleansing’ process. It’s a little side project of hers when she’s not RUINING MY CARS!” The Duke launched himself over to a beautiful sports car. “You see this? Sure, she looks like a dream and shines like a sun, but you know what color she was before? Blue! This baby blue had her original paint job too! And she stripped her down and covered it up with an off-white! It’s enough to make you heave!” He hugged his car, petting the hood tenderly.

“Look, man. I’m sorry about your… ‘babies’, but I need more info on this ‘cleansing’ stuff. What exactly is it? How do we turn him back?” Mike demanded. 

“Look, Chilton. All I know is that when Dee wants something ‘clean’ it gets and stays ‘clean’. But,” the Duke smirked as he caressed the car, “if there’s one thing I know she loves more than cleanliness, is she loves, and I mean loves, cars. Almost as much as me. If you want your friend ‘fixed’, I suggest you play a little dirty.” The Duke snapped his fingers, and several of his goonies appeared behind Julie and Mike. “I’m done with the pleasantries. Escort these two to the door. And you,” he pointed to one in particular, “get my painting gear.” He turned to his car, “Don’t worry, baby. We’re gonna restore you to your true glory.”

Julie and Mike were kind of glad they were getting kicked out if not to just avoid the uncomfortable tension between the Duke and his cars… If he was right about what he had said about Dee Taylor, then they needed some… bait.

\-----

“Can I just say how much a hate this plan,” Julie said as she pulled up at the Oasis Auto Spa. “Not only is it a waste of a good pizza and pop, but if this doesn’t work…” She looked down at her dash and floor boards. To get 9 Lives into true “Texas-ification”, they had made a quick pit stop at Antonio’s for a quick snack and to throw all of that snack into her car. 

“It’s for the greater good, Jules. Besides, Dee wouldn’t be doing her job if she didn’t clean up the mess. We just needed to get you to Texas levels of mess in order to get to the bottom of all this ‘cleansing’ business,” Mike reassured her. He was about half a mile away from the Auto Spa, peering at the shop with some thermal vision binoculars. “And I’ll be on coms with you the whole time. Anything off or suspicious, I’ll be there, busting down the front door.”

Julie tried to take comfort in his words as she walked up to the entrance. Just like the first visit, the door slid open before she even had a chance to reach for the handle. “Welcome back,” Dee greeted. “Change of heart?”

“Yeah… I, um, kinda had an incident in my car and I need it cleaned like as soon as possible,” Julie pointed back at 9 Lives. 

“I see, I see,” Dee said as she nodded. “I’ll get out the new customer form and assess the situation while you fill out the paperwork. I’m very thorough with evaluations so if you finish before I do, please feel free to wait in the waiting area.” She smiled and followed through with her actions, leaving Julie alone in the office. 

Julie went over to the desk, speedily filled out the paperwork as to not arouse suspicion, and then began rummaging through the drawers. She found more of the blue and red forms, a few pens and pencils, but nothing out of the ordinary. Not wasting any time, she began searching around the rest of the room. All she found were old car magazines and a whole lot of nothing. Every picture on the wall, the furniture, everything was spotless and nothing out of the ordinary… which was the most out of the ordinary thing. It reminded Julie more of her home in Deluxe rather than what was the norm in Motorcity. 

She moved her search to the waiting room, only to find exactly what she had been told be there. It was slightly smaller pod than the one she had just been in. Like Dee had said, there was a cot, a fresh pot of coffee, and the sounds of what Julie assumed to be the ocean playing in the “relaxation” area. She started looking for anything worth noting; a trap door, some kind of weird smell to the coffee, possibly something off about the ambient audio. However she couldn't find a thing…

Somewhat defeated, she made a cup of surprisingly good coffee and sat down on the cot. She thought about calling Mike and reporting the lack of progress, but didn't feel like it. Not really feeling defeated, more like not wanting to bother him with no useful information. Sipping her drink, the room really did it's intended purpose. She started to feel relaxed and even fatigued. Then again, that might be from the extra training with her father and the extra effort she was putting in to participate in her Burner activities. Julie slowly remembered all her troubles and worries, and then felt them leave her as if a weight had been lifted from her mind. Soon enough, she had finished her beverage and was laying down in the cot. 

Five minutes, she told herself, it won't take that long to have the car checked out and there was nothing strange here anyways…

Julie’s eyes slowly shut.

\-----

Julie drifted back into consciousness to a very rude awakening. She could barely open her eyes. A blinding light loomed above her from the ceiling above. She attempted to move but her arms and legs were restrained. The adrenaline induced by slight panic didn’t seem to do much good. Julie felt almost numb. How long had she been unconscious and stagnant there? Was she still in Oasis or someplace entirely different? Was it possible to get somewhat free to reach her coms and try to contact Mike? The latter of those questions was quickly answered with the absent feeling in her ear where her coms had once been. 

“I’m afraid there are no phones or calls of any kind allowed during the consultations,” Julie heard the voice of Dee boom from behind her. Her captor swaggered into view. She clicked the pen in one of her hands rhythmically while reading a clipboard in the other. “And I have quite a few notes… now your car, other than the food stains, is relatively in good shape. You take really good care of her and I have to say I’m impressed. However,” the blinding light turned out to be replaced with a plethora of monitors on the ceiling, “you behavior and attitude is another story.”

Images of Julie at the side gates leading into Deluxe changing using her holograms, fighting Kane Bots, and other activities related to her Burners’ work. Julie’s panic increased. She’d been under the impression that Chuck had been scrubbing footage like this clean from the systems before there was a chance for anyone to review it. 

“Now,” Dee spoke up after allowing Julie to fully observe the screens, “you can see how this is an issue, correct? Playing dirty… playing both sides like this. On one hand, you have the safety and security of Deluxe, you’re taken care of, you have a home there. But you jeopardize that everytime you step foot into Motorcity and work towards destroying that safe, secure utopia. On the other hand, you have the freedoms and thrills of Motorcity. You have your car, the open road, and your friends. However, it all comes at a price. It’s all held together with a lie… and if they knew…”

The clicking of the pen became faster. 

“But you don’t have to worry about all of that anymore. What if I told you, you really could have it all. The safety and the freedom, security and the thrills… you could absolve your life from the filth that holds you down and holds you back. All you have to do is-”

“End up like Texas?”” Julie was able to blurt out. “Yeah, no thanks. You seem to like Deluxe so much, then why don’t you just go back there and not try to turn people into weird Motor-Deluxe-Hibrides?!”

“...Abraham has a good idea of what the world should be. But he discludes one thing I can’t live without. My cars. Kane sees cars as freedom, something you can use to drive away… away from him. For me, cars are the freedom from people. I can just sit alone in my car for hours, the ignition doesn’t even need to be started, and just… be. The problem with Deluxe and the problems with here are the people. Sure, it might be my rupophobia talking but it's hard for me to just pack up and leave… and no matter how ‘clean’ Kane makes you think it is, Deluxe can’t avoid all the filth of the world; on the outside or the inside.

“So, I thought, if I could scrub a car clean of it’s owners’ filth, why not do the same to the drivers? Stop the mess at the source, and ‘cleanse’ the situation as a whole. Your friend was just the beginning. The more people who reply to my add, the more I can get to what I want; a clean enough world for Kane to not have a need to ship us all up to his auto-less dystopia. I get my cars and a cleaner Motorcity.” The pen clicking stopped. “Theoretically, of course.” Dee wrote down something on her clipboard. “You’re a little more ‘difficult’ than your friend, so this may take a while longer…” She disappeared from Julie’s sight for all but a second, until she re-appeared with an IV. Julie’s eyes widened and began to struggle in her restraints once more. It was very clear that whatever was going to happen was waaaaaay not good. She hoped that Mike would have noticed her extremely long absence as a sign to rush the place.

And above the cell she was in, that’s exactly what was occuring. 

\-----

Julie had been gone for way too long, and hadn’t checked in on the coms for almost twenty minutes. He’d seen Dee check out 9 Lives for a while before rushing back inside the Auto Spa. He couldn’t just sit still any longer. Something was definitely wrong. When Mike snuck up to the door, instead of it opening instantaneously like before, he actually had to let himself in. 

It was deathly quiet. The room looked untouched and as clean as it had before. He walked further in and checked out the waiting area Dee had pointed out to find it just as empty. He stepped out and looked over at the only other door not leading out labeled “Employees Only”. Mike raised an eyebrow as he went to get a better look. There was a small keypad next to the door. It appeared to have a four digit code. Pulling out his coms, he rang up Chuck in hopes of a quick entrance. 

“Hey, Chuckles,” Mike greeted Chuck’s communication hologram. “Any ideas for an easy in?”

“I mean you could plug me in and I can see what I can do…,” Chuck explained only to trail off slightly.

“There’s a ‘but’ isn’t there?” Mike sighed.

“... buuuuuut it would just take less time for you to just key in the code. We kinda have our own issues here. I’m pretty sure Texas just bleached most all our tech in ‘cleaning’ the HQ- HEY NO DO NOT SQUEEGEE THAT! I gotta go Mikey,” and with that Chuck ended the call.

With a sigh, Mike turned around and looked around the room. There had to be some kind of clue as to what the four digit code could be. He contemplated maybe looking at the paperwork and documents that was possibly filed away in the desk. However, he nixed that idea. Most codes would be something easy to remember… something personal. 

Mike looked at the pictures on the walls. Each of the polaroids appeared to be almost “fresh from the factory” new cars. Written under the images were people’s names; Jessica, Moira, Luka, Pedro, etc. There wasn’t much of a connection in those.

He next looked over the only other art on the walls; the oil paintings. Now those were all the same. All of the images were colorful depictions of the same car, a classic Thunderbird. Trying to think back to what little car history he could remember, Mike wished Dutch or Jacob were here to help. 

It finally clicked in his head. Mike leapt back over to the keypad and typed:

1-9-5-5

BEEP.

The door unlocked and slide open to reveal, not another room, but an elevator. 

\-----

The ride down felt longer than Mike had expected it to be. Halfway down the trip, he attempted to contact any of the other Burners; Chuck, Dutch, even Julie once more. However, he couldn’t get a connection. The elevator car stopped and the doors parted to reveal a narrow hallway. 

Mike’s footsteps echoed as he carefully made his way down the hall towards the only door at the very end. This was not an ideal situation whatsoever… no other means of escape except the way he had came from. And no telling what was behind the only other door. Cautiously, he reached the door and reached out to open in, his hand going for his weapon. As he was about to enter, Mike was beaten to the punch. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees.

“Need a hand?” a familiar voice asked. It was Julie. Without missing a beat, Mike took it.

“Boy, I’m glad to see… you?” he almost lost his words as he quickly noticed his friend was not wearing her normal attire, but instead, her Deluxian uniform. That and her arm was pulled back in preparation to clock him in the face. As she followed through with her attack, Mike was able to block before her fist made impact.

“Now, now. It seems you’ll need another session, Julie. You’re still fighting dirty,” Dee said as she came out from behind Julie’s looming figure. 

“What did you do to her?” Mike spat as he semi-struggled with his friend as she attempted to push him down, now having a hold on both his hands.

“I did what I plan to do to you and to every garbage person in this dump, I’m going to clean you. And you, Mike Chilton, are going to be a project I look forward to take on.” Dee placed one of her hands on Julie’s shoulder, the other girl seemingly unphased. “If you would be so kind as to help Mr. Chilton into the examination chair. Let’s see if we can’t do a deep cleanse.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Mike answered her instead. He managed to overpower Julie, throwing her at Dee, knocking them both to the ground. He turned around and bolted for the elevator. 

“Don’t just lay there like a louse! Get him!” the elder woman ordered as she shoved the younger off of her. Julie shot up and gave Mike chase. 

However, the hallway was too short, and Mike had too much of a head start. He reached the elevator and opened the doors right as Julie had closed the gap between them. As he ascended back to the surface level, he tried once more to contact the Burners. On his third try he was finally able to get hold of Chuck.

“Hey, buddy, so… Julie is kinda brainwashed. Is there anything I can use from your experience with Tex?” 

“Well actually-” Chuck never got a chance to answer. 

“Mike! Oh man, have you seen my car? Its so clean I can eat off of it!” Texas blurted out, cutting off Chuck.

“Woah! How did you manage to get normal Texas back?” Mike said surprised.

“Well, we got worried about him since he hadn’t eaten in such a long time so we were about to sit him down and gave him some pizza. And then BOOM he was back to normal. Whatever brainwashing it is, it’s not very powerful. All we needed was some junk food and he was-”

“It was just like his car,” Dutch chimed in. “This whole thing started with him getting his car cleaned and one of the bigger issues was all of the growdy food everywhere! Maybe reintroducing the ‘junk’ dirtied up his brain enough that the ‘washing’ undid itself. Tex cares about his snacks more than he cares about keeping Stronghorn clean.”

“And maybe it’s the same with Jules!” Mike realized. “Thanks guys!” 

The door opened back to the ground level. Mike made a b-line for Dee’s desk. He tore open every drawer until he found the customer files. It was easy to find Jules’ since it was currently one of two. When he opened the file he didn’t realize just how much of a breach of privacy this would feel like… He skipped for keywords; freedom, guilt, lies… lying to her friends… With little time to figure it out, he decided that the main point of all the cursive scribbles on the page were duality. Julie felt guilty for her double life. So, Mike just had to make her ‘not’ feel guilty. 

Easy enough, Mike thought as he heard the doors to the elevator open once more. Seeing as his time was now officially up, Mike rushed for the front door. However, he couldn’t get the door to open. 

“That’s enough, Mr. Chilton!” Dee barked, shedding what little illusion of creepy calmness she had left. “I can only be so patient, now stop acting like a filthy child and-”

Mike remembered something the Duke had said earlier. “If there’s one thing I know she loves more than cleanliness, is ...cars.” And what was right next to Mike’s hand as he had his back pressed up against the door. Why, it was an entire wall of photographs with images of individually named cars. Mike realized now, these were her ‘babies’. He grabbed the nearest photo and held it with both hands. Dee froze.

“Now who is this?” Mike egged her on. He looked at the writing. “Yancy? My, my, that’s a pretty nice roadster. A real classic! That’s the kind of car you only dream of seeing in museums!” He made a slight tear in the top of the polaroid, right above the actual image. You could have mistaken Dee’s look of horror as the first signs of a heart attack.

“Nooooooooo!” she wailed. “That’s all I have left of her! I’m warning you, Michael! Y-you-”

“I’d what? You’ve already threatened to brainwash me. Which, according to my friends, doesn’t last very long.” This took Dee aback. “And like I said, it’s NOT Michael. It’s Mike.” He ignored her reaction and directed his focus towards his friend. “Jules! It’s ok! You don’t have to feel bad about whatever it is you’re hiding from us! We know whose side you're on and we know how much you care about Motorcity! Whatever it is we’ll understand!”

“...I… no… you don’t,” Julie began sputtering. She began reaching for her head as though she was fighting against the control the ‘cleansing’ had over her mind. 

“It’s ok, Jules,” Mike’s voice lowered to a more calmed tone. “Whatever it is, you can tell us when you’re ready, if that time ever comes. We’re no Deluxe, but you know you’ll always have a home here.”

That did it. A spark of life came back to Julie’s eyes. “I appreciate it, Mike,” she said with a smile. Dee, on the other hand, was far from smiling. The only person she had had under her control was no longer on her side. “Now, what should we do about you?” Julie said as she turned to Dee, activating her holograms, changing back to her Motorcity threads. 

Dee frantically tried to get back to the elevator only for Julie to block her way. Having nowhere else to turn, she ducked into the waiting area. Mike and Julie gave chase and obstrucked her only means of escape. 

“Say… you mentioned you had rupophobia, right?” Julie brought up as she reached over to the now ice cold pot of coffee. “I wonder how hard it is to get coffee stains out of pure white coveralls? Let alone shower long enough to get rid of the smell…”

The woman’s eyes filled with fear. “No. Please. Anything but that!” 

“Then swear you’ll give up this crazy brainwashing thing and just stick to cleaning cars,” Mike said acting as the ‘good cop’ in this situation. “Otherwise, I don’t think I can hold her back.”

“I promise! Just please, put the coffee down!” It was extremely sad to see a grown woman cower in fear by the pretenses of a teenage girl with a nonlethal liquid. 

With that, Julie put the pot back in its original location. As a sign of good faith, Mike handed Dee her photo of Yancy. She cautiously took it from him and almost immediately pacified. 

Having had enough of whatever ‘that’ had been for one day, Mike and Julie let themselves out. Pup was right outside the gate next to an already cleaned 9 Lives. 

“Wow… she did a really good job… how long was I out?” Julie asked as she got behind the wheel. 

“Not too long, all things considered,” Mike replied as he hopped on his ride and started it up.

“And for the record,” Julie revved her engine, “You couldn’t hold me back even if you tried, Chilton.” And with that, she drove off. Not wanting to be outdone or ‘lose’ the not-race, Mike gave chase. The two drove back the Burners HQ for some much needed pigging out and not cleaning up the mess. At least not right away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Introducing Dee Taylor! 
> 
> Character Profile-  
> Dee Taylor “The Detailer” - a neat freak who’s obsessed with cleanliness, especially when it comes to cars. She used to be the personal car detailer for the Duke of Detroit until she accidentally ruined one of his baby’s original paint job while buffing out a smudge. She’s one of the few people in Motorcity who somewhat agrees with Kane in making a safer society no matter the cost. She resides in what she calls “Oasis Auto Spa”, her base of operation as well as it being a place where she cleanses filth (whether it be the grime on cars or people who dirty them). Her name is a really obvious and bad pun on “detailer” as well as her connection to the Duke (who is voiced by Dee Snider). Her car is a seventh generation Ford Thunderbird. She has rupophobia, the fear of of dirt, filth, defecation or being soiled. The origin of the word rupo is Greek (meaning filth or dirt) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear).
> 
> -The code 1955 is the year of the first generation of the Ford Thunderbird. 
> 
> I was excited to debut my first OC villain! I normally don't like making OCs unless they are for my own original works so writing her was a fun challenge. I hope you enjoyed her! If so, let me know! She may come back from another appearance~
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought. I'm always interested in constructive criticism and knowing with all of you would like to read in future "episodes". Until next time!


	4. C. v C.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When talk about Claire’s learning to drive indirectly turns into a test to see who’s the better teacher, Mike and Julie decide to put together a little race between Chuck and Claire. The two racers in question, however, are far less than thrilled to be thrown behind the wheel with only a week in preparation. Will both teachers get their drivers in tip top shape via crash course? Or will they just flat out crash?!

“Are you sure about this, Claire?” Julie nervously asked her friend from the passenger’s seat of a baby blue mini cooper. She looked over to Claire who was tense behind the wheel. It had taken her by somewhat surprise when the Deluxian girl asked her for driving lessons. Sure, after spending more time with The Amazons whenever she traveled down to Motorcity, some kind of “driving bug” was bound to take hold. Julie just never thought Claire would actually ask. 

“I… yes. I’m totally sure,” Claire replied. Her hands gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly in the ten-and-two position Julie had shown her. “I mean, like, its inevitable, right? Me learning how to drive, it’s just the… next step.” She took a shaky breath. “Hanging with you and hanging with Foxy and the other girls is super fun, but… I can’t help but feel a little left out whenever you guys drive off. I never really felt it before but now I see that this whole driving thing looks kinda fun.” Her shoulder relaxed slightly as she smiled over to her friend. “So, yeah. I’m sure.”

Julie smiled back at her friend. “Alright. So, do you remember what to do next?”

“Well, I’ve checked all my mirrors, and not just to check my makeup but for like the other cars and stuff. I’ve buckled up and turned on the ignition. So now… I put my foot on the breaks,” Claire did so, “and… I get out of PARK and into DRIVE.” Lucky for Claire, Julie had managed to find an automatic version of the cooper in the gold mine of cars back before the attack on Motorcity. It saved time for Dutch, who would have been more than willing to build Claire a car or modify a manual, to focus on Mutt. 

“You’re doing great!” Julie encouraged. “Now take your foot off the break and move it over to the accelerator, and slowly push down on it. Don’t gun it.” She observed her friend do as instructed and saw her slightly horrified expression as the car began to slowly move forward. “Keep calm, Claire. Just keep your eyes on the road and relax.” 

The car inched forward at around 10 mph. 

...they went at this speed for almost a quarter of a mile.

TAP. TAP.

Claire slammed on the breaks and almost pulled a muscle in her leg with how hard she was pressing her foot down. The two girls looked over to see Mike looking in at them. He motioned for them to roll down the window. 

“Put it in PARK and it's the little button on the upper left on the door,” Julie guided Claire. The nervous driver gingerly shifted gears but did not dare take her foot off the breaks. She attempted to roll down her window but accidentally rolled down Julie’s instead. Seeing her mistake, Claire pushed the other button next to it and properly rolled down her own window. 

“Is there a problem, ‘officer’?” Julie quipped as she looked over Claire.

“Sorry to bother you, ladies, but I’m afraid the minimum is at least 90 mph in this zone. I was almost afraid you’d fallen asleep at the wheel and forgot to park.” Mike chuckled as he played along. 

“Ha ha very funny,” Claire spoke up, a little less than amused. “We aren’t all pro racers, or whatever, like you. Not everyone gets to drive around all day every day.”

“Cut her some slack, Mike. It’s just her third time behind the wheel. And it’s not like I can keep her down here long enough to have a proper drivers-ed.” Julie put a reassuring hand on her friend’s shoulder. She looked back to Mike. “Unless you think you could do better?” she chuckled.

Mike took a moment to think back to his past “private lessons” when it came to driving…

\-----

“You did great, Chuck! We only flipped over twice this time!” Mike exclaimed, congratulating his friend as they both hung upside down in Blonde Thunder. “And you barely screamed this time!”  
“That (wheeze) would be (wheeze) the deep (gasp) breathing exercises,” Chuck replied as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. Due to the effects of gravity on his bangs, it was noticeable how non-buggy his eyes were. After being in the driver’s seat a lot more frequently for their driving lessons, Chuck had become slightly less afraid of Mike instructing him to “floor it” with the accelerator. 

Mike was so proud at how far his friend had come, both in driving and in not freaking out (as badly).

\-----

“Well… I mean, I’ve taught Chuck everything he knows, and he raced the Duke. And won so…,” Mike chuckled as he egged on his point. Even if it was only mostly true.

“Oh right! I remember that. Wasn’t that when you pushed his car down the final race? Very ‘hands on’ teaching,” Julie said. “I, however, haven’t once pushed Claire with my car.” 

“By push his car-?” Claire inquisitively attempted to ask for clarification.

“That was a one-time-thing. The Duke was playing dirty and I was just fighting fire with fire,” Mike defended a little less ‘jokingly’, purposely ignoring the fact that he’d been the one to play dirty first in that situation. “That doesn’t mean Chuck couldn’t have beat him easy! Remember the other two races before that one? He took first and second place respectively.”

“True… but has he even drove since then? He’s probably a little rusty. Unlike Claire who, although I’ll admit she takes her time, is making major progress. You’ve two have probably been driving together for waaaaaay longer than Claire. Give her a month and she’ll drive circles around him.” 

“I wouldn’t go that far-” Yet again, Claire was cut off.

“Wanna bet?”

“Oh no…,” Claire sunk into the driver’s seat.

“Why not! Name the time and place, Chilton!” Julie exclaimed. The two Burners were getting a little too heated and their competitiveness take hold, while still attempting to keep it friendly. 

“How about a simple point A to point B; Mutt Dogs to the East Gate and back. Say… in a week?” Mike carefully said thinking about the safest and easiest way to make sure Chuck had at least a chance of winning without crashing before the halfway point.

“Only a week?!” Claire shreaked.

“Deal!” Julie agreed to the terms. “Sit up, Claire. We have a race to win.”

\-----

“You did what?!” Chuck’s voice echoed in the garage as he watched Mike check all of Blonde Thunder’s fluids. “No no no no, Mike, what were you thinking?! I can’t,” he lowered his voice, “I can even drive past 50 mph without messing up, and you’re telling me I have to race? AGAIN?”

“Don’t worry about it, Chuckles!” Mike slammed down the hood of the car, seeing as everything was in perfect order. “It’s just Claire!”

“THAT MAKES IT EVEN WORSE!” the blond yelled into his hands. “I already get nervous from driving and from being around her, and now you’re telling me I have to combine the two?! No way, Mikey!”

“Calm down, man. We have a week to prepare so,” Mike opened up the front passenger’s side door and hopped into the car. “Let’s get going!”

\-----

“Um… Julie,” Claire sheepishly said as she stared dumbfoundedly at the gear shift as she sunk into the fuzzy pink seat cover. “Why am I in your car and not in my own?”

It was day one of her “crash course” (Claire really hated Julie calling it that) and things were getting off to a rocky start. When the two had made their way out of Deluxe, Claire had found it odd that they hadn’t drove to where they were keeping the mini cooper. She started to panic when Julie told them to switch seats. 

“Your car isn’t exactly ‘racer ready’. Chuck drives a sports coupe! Don’t worry about it. It’s just like your car… kinda? Regardless, I’m sure I can teach you no problem, and you’ve been picking up on driving so quickly that-”

Claire tuned out her friend as she wondered how she’d been dragging into this race in the first place. Sure, she had been really looking forward to learning how to drive ever since she realized how fun it could be after meeting the Amazons. Even better, she would be taught by her best friend, and she thought that it could be an extra “excuse” for them to hang out more. But once a competition was involved, Julie went into hype winning mode and got a little… pushy. Claire couldn’t tell if it was the stubbornness Julie got from her dad or from hanging out with the Burners so much. She didn’t hate that attribute about her friend, but in situations like this, Claire wasn’t loving the fact she was getting swept up in the mix. On top of having to participate in a race she did not want to be a part of, she had to race against… Chuck.

It’s not that she hated the guy or anything. Especially after the weirdness that happened on that Halloween-thingy night, Claire felt less annoyed around him, and could endure being in a room with him for more than ten minutes without wanting to run out screaming. However, talking and having to interact with the guy was way different from racing him in a car. Chuck’s a Burner! Burners drive cars! All the time! Even if she hadn’t really seen him drive, Claire could only suspect that he could do donuts around her as she inched her car to the finish line. The best-case scenario was that Claire didn’t crash the car. She knew she couldn’t win, but she really didn’t want to let Julie down.

“Claire?” Julie nudged her friend.

“Huh?!” Claire perked up from zoning out and turned to her friend. 

“You ready to get started?”

All she could do was nod and put the car from PARK to DRIVE.

\-----

Time almost seemed to fly by. Mike and Julie were kicking things into overdrive in making sure Chuck and Claire would be at least able to cross the finish line. There were many dented bumpers and blown out tires. However the two teachers were pleasantly surprised with the decent progress there pupils were making. So much so that whenever the two Burners would check in on the other’s progress, they would embellish the accomplishments of their respective student. Meanwhile on the other side of the situation, Chuck and Claire were getting more and more nervous. 

It was one of the few moments of down time that Mike and Julie had given them from their training. The two teachers were bantering back at the HQ while Chuck found himself hiding in the garage. He looked on at Blonde Thunder. Dutch had been buffing out some dents that he had accumulated over the earlier driving practice; making the car look as good as new, maybe even better than new. And if Chuck was to be perfectly honest, he wished his car wasn’t so fixed. He almost wanted to let the air out of all the tires and just forfeit the whole ordeal. He got the same feeling in his gut about this race as he had had back when Mike made the deal with the Duke what back when. He didn’t want to let his friend down, but he also really did not want to go through with this race. Sure, he was getting better at driving and less frightened when going over 60 MPH, but self improving and “racing to win” were very different motivations.

Chuck let out a deep sigh as he cradled his head in his hands. 

“Looks like you got just as dragged along for the ride in all this, too, huh?” a familiar voice said from behind, making Chuck tense up. He uncovered his eyes to see Claire walking into the garage, closing the door behind her. “Those two are still going at it…”

Normally Chuck would be scatterbrained when Claire walked into the room, however seeing her expression mimicking his own, he was oddly calmed. “Yeah. You’d think that they were the ones actually racing. I mean you’d think they would have asked us first before setting all this up.”

“I know right! I mean I love Julie but sometimes she can be a little too… much? Like I know she means well but its like she’s more caught up with winning than with making sure I’m safely driving.”

“Same with Mike! Those two can get waaaay too competitive! And the worst part? This isn’t the first time he’s done it too. But what can you do? They mean well… but they seem to think way too highly of us- I mean, me- I mean-”

“No, no. You were right the first time,” Claire stopped him short. “I mean I’ve only been driving for a little under a week now. And you’ve a Burner! You guys practically live in your cars!”

This time it was Chuck’s turn to correct her statement. “Actually (and you can’t tell this to anyone, ok) I only recently started to learn how to drive…”

“Get out! Seriously?” Claire looked at him in disbelief. “But they said you won a race against that Duke guy like forever ago!”

“...I had a lot of help. But now, I’m pretty much on the same level as you. At least, I think I am. Julie says you’re a natural.”

The girl next to him let out a chuckle. “Yeah if you consider crashing into a building at 25 MPH the move of a ‘natural’ driver.”

“Oh that’s nothing! After some of the stunts Mike’s had me attempt, I’ve ended up upside down,” Chuck added. “It almost makes me want to ask Dutch to put an extra set of wheels on the roof!” 

The two laughed at their mutual misfortunes until the merriment died down with the blond’s coms going off. Mike’s communication hologram appeared and called his friend to check in on the car, and if it was all tuned up, to get ready for some last minute training. Begrudgingly, Chuck replied, telling Mike he’d be ready to roll out in a few minutes. The hologram disappeared and he turned to Claire. What little moment they had had of a ‘normal’ conversation was over, as she excused herself to go find Julie. With weak smiles, the two said their goodbyes. The next time they would see each other, it would be the day of the race.

\-----

9Lives and Blonde Thunder were lined up at the makeshift starting line. The two drivers tensed up behind the wheels of their vehicles. Julie’s and Mike’s communication holograms appeared in their respective driver’s cars. 

“Ready?” the holograms echoed.

“I guess,” Claire replied.

“I hope,” Chuck sighed.

“GO!” 

The two “sped” off a lot slower than Mike or Julie would have liked, but at least they were off. The course wasn’t too difficult, especially since they had practiced the route over the week. The racers went on at a steady pace. For the most part, they were neck-in-neck. However this didn’t sit well with their coaches.

“Come on, Chuck! Floor it a little!” Mike’s hologram popped up. 

“If you speed up just a little bit, you’ll be in the lead, Claire!” Julie’s hologram instructed.

The two drivers reluctantly did as they were told, accelerating about the same speed. They were going well beyond their comfort zone and still were racing side by side. They had a bad feeling their teachers were going to tell them to-

“Go faster!” both echoed as they coached their respective racers.

“Are you crazy?!” Claire and Chuck echoed back. They were already going close to 100 MPH, and a LOT of sharp turns were coming up. The two did the opposite and hit the brakes, barely making the first turn. Claire was unlucky enough to not make make it as smoothly, giving Chuck the lead. Not wanting the expected voice of Julie to tell her to speed up again, she instinctively slammed on the accelerator. She shakily attempted to steady the steering wheel as she tried to catch up to her competitor. And for the most part, she was.

The next turn was coming up and the two were nearing the gate. Claire was gaining speed and was close to passing Chuck. Reluctantly, the blond accelerated to match his opponent's speed. On both ends, Mike and Julie were “back seat driving” via their holograms. The drivers’ wanted to shut off the coms desperately, but couldn’t risk taking their hands off the steering wheels. 

9Lives and Blonde Thunder were almost side by side as they sped towards the “finish line”. The realization of how close they were to ending this ordeal gave the drivers an odd feeling of relief. The only issue was how it would end. Claire and Chuck both knew that whoever won, Mike and Julie wouldn’t let the other hear the end of it. And they would have to end up stuck in the middle listening to it. So, almost telepathically, the two decided on the only option between the two “evils”. 

Less than half a mile before the invisible finish line, Claire and Chuck slammed on their breaks. 9Lives’ and Blonde Thunder’s tires screeched and left behind skid marks in their wake, spinning out of control until finally they both halted to a complete stop. 

It was a tie.

\-----

Mike and Julie pulled up on Pup to their friends who were sitting safely on the ground, far far away from the vehicles. The two drivers were almost hugging the pavement. Hopping off the bike, the teachers dashed over to their pupils, ready to barrad them with questions.

“Who won?!”

“I bet it was-”

“A TIE!” Chuck and Claire exhaustedly exclaimed. 

“Seriously?” Julie pouted. She looked over at Mike. “Well, I mean they both had good teachers.”

Mike smirked. “And Claire did make a lot of progress in such a short time. Especially since she had 9Lives. Pretty bold move on your part, Jules.”

“Oh please. Considering how out of practice Chuck is, it just shows how well you’ve taught him how to handle himself behind the wheel.”

The two began to go back and forth patting each other on the back, leaving the other two to gladly ignore them. Somewhat shakily pulling himself to his feet, Chuck extended a hand to Claire. “You wanna… ditch these two and have a nice quiet slice at Antonio’s?”

Taking his hand and giving Chuck a warm smile, Claire replied, “Only if you’re buying.” He helped her up and the two made there way to Blonde Thunder. “But I’m driving,” she said before they got into the car. There were no arguments there as they drove off to celebrate their “victory”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post! I had most of it written a long while back but with life doing its thing, some mental health stuff I could no longer put off, and going through the process of moving to a new place it was put on the back burner. Hopefully ya'll enjoyed this chapter/episode. It was one I really wanted to write for this series and I'm glad I was able to get it out there to you guys.
> 
> Always glad to hear feedback! And thank you so so much for reading!!!


End file.
